You’ve got to perform one rotation at a time, but you can certainly type in the rotation angle.

JimD:

[90,90,0] would be the equivalent of rotating an object 90º on the X,Y axis, and 0º on the Z axis.

There is no X,Y axis. X,Y is a plane, so I think we would speak in terms of rotating an object around an axis parallel to one of the three system axes. In your example, how would the Rotate tool know where each axis of rotation is relative to the part? Would it run the axis of rotation through the objects’s geometric center by default?

not unlike how the Right click context menu brings up the Flip Along (Red, Green, Blue Direction) option. which in this case, using the Flip Along option, the object basically seems to rotate 180º around it’s centerline. (but not necessarily around the named axis direction).

You bring up a good point about the relative axis settings for the object itself. I wasn’t really looking to rotate components which have this info stored in them already. I just want to quickly position raw geometry into place.

In your example, how would the Rotate tool know where each axis of rotation is relative to the part? Would it run the axis of rotation through the objects’s geometric center by default?

Trying to answer the questions a little better. . .

I would have thought that after setting the center point for the rotation, which needs to happen anyhow. . . from that position x red direction would act similar to what happens in the RotX of a dynamic component.

In messing around with the Rot values of a dynamic component I start to see a different reality which you’re trying to explain to me.

While I can get the first angle of rotation to happen as I would imagine it, the 2nd rotation is way off from expectations.

. . . But still obtainable I would think, there just has to be a little memory build into the rotation sequence. so that whatever the settings were prior to the first action, those still temporarily hold over for the 2nd rotation as well. allowing 2 directions at a time.

and yes folks what I wrote, actually makes sense to me,. . . I don’t doubt that this is crazy talk for someone who really knows this stuff.

I guess it’s a good thing that I’m nowhere near a job site that deals with the geo synchronous orbits of satellites. which with my input would be back down on the ground in no time at all. Hopefully not on top of someones house.

Right click on an axis in empty space and explore ‘Move’. It has drawing axes rotations available for/about all axes at once. Then save a scene with these new axes. Cut or copy your selection in one drawing axes system and paste (not paste in place) in the rotated drawing axes system.

The ‘Move’ input applies to what is currently available as drawing axes. The values do not necessarily start from the systems axes for you may have changed the axes before.
(reset is available in the right click context menu on an axis.)

So with axes > ‘Move’ and some created scenes and paste it is possible. Although I prefere rotating a selection in two or three steps about two or three axes.

The menu which comes up is just what I would hope for. . . and the idea of creating a new scene, and then copy/paste into the other one is a good one. Knowing about this option opens up what’s possible for me in the future… so I’m happy to see a new way of working here.

The extra steps of having to create a new scene, and copy/paste into another one probably make it a wash for rotating the object twice in the first place. So I’m not sure how much time saving there is. Either way though it’s definitely a good working technique that I should know about.

I should probably start drawing the profile directly onto the plane I want it on in the first place. Maybe the rotate/move axis tool will help set this up for me.

And if nothing else, what you’ve outlined in your workaround (and that Move menu of the Axis), provides a good demonstration of what I was hoping was possible. less the part of it not applying directly to the object.

I know what you are saying, to have this option for the ‘Rotate’ tool.
But in case of (say) preparing a profile perpendicular to a path, to then be used in an extrusion with 'Follow Me, you can let SketchUp do “all the rotations” to obtain that perpendicular plane.
Use a little face near the beginning of the path that is going to be used. The temporary extrusion will have its beginning and end face now perpendicular. Delete the extrusion except for the beginning face.
Use its plane to draw the profile in. That way you are sure that the profile is going to be perpendicular to the path. You can even right click on the little beginning face (the one that is kept after the first extrusion) and select ‘Align Axes’, to have convenient drawing axes,